building a handmade hideaway : a wrap up post

Hey you guys! Did ya miss us yesterday? Sometimes in the summer, you just have to seize the moment. And by seize the moment, I mean take advantage of your awesome friends with access to a pool before you kids start climbing the walls and morph into ninja mutants a-la Gremlins in this tropical heat wave that pretty much inhibits us from doing much outside. Hurray for sleepy kiddos and freckled cheeks. There’s nothing better!

Today, I thought we’d wrap it up with a few FAQ’s in terms of the hideaway. The kids are loving it. It’s withstood a few strong storms so far, and I’m pretty sure that while we were previously toeing the line, our neighbors officially think we’re total weirdos. So here’s a few general questions we’ve gotten so far from a few of you who were up to building your own, and we thought we’d cover a few of the finer polished details, here.

1. What were the colors you used for your hideaway?

We used {my current absolute favorite} Benjamin Moore’s Calypso Blue + Silver Chain. {please note: Silver Chain looks much darker on the screen than it is in person…especially outside.} We combined this with the color on the deck: Flood’s Waterproofing Stain in Bark. {You can have it custom mixed in the store.}

2. Where did you get your curtains? Did you make them?

Actually, while I’m usually a fan of making things…sometimes, it’s not cheaper. Any outdoor material I found was more expensive than these pre-made ones with grommets that we ordered, here. They needed to be just the right width, and height. That, and my sewing machine has been on the fritz. {Now that I’m thinking about it, I believe we listed the price of four of these panels on our original pricing list, so give yourselves a discount and a giant pat on the back for my awesomely horrible math skillz if you plan on ordering them!}

3. How did you hang them?

If you look closely in the photos below, we simply placed screws {measured with each grommet} across the top inside part of the hideaway. Then we hung it across, letting the panels overlap on the middle, uppermost peak of the roof. However, if we’d just left them like that, there would have been a big fat gigantic awkward gap when we did the cool swaggy thing for the bungalow effect that you see in our photos. So once it was pulled to the side, I simply pinched a part of the panel, about five to ten inches down, and pulled it upward, until that panel was flush to the wall. I pinned it in place, and gave it a run with my {oh so sloppy with my on the fritz} sewing machine. The panels were then hanging right, and if I ever change my mind, it won’t be hard to cut it loose.

4. In your instructions for building the back wall, you don’t have any horizontal pieces like I’m seeing in the end product. Did you add some shelving?

Yes. We simply eyeballed it, and added them, alternating on each side, to our liking. We measured the width, cut the wood, and screwed them in. It makes for an extra hiding place for all their fabulous treasures!

5. We want to build one, and our kids look close to your age…How old are your children? We’re just not sure if they’re ready. Any recommendations?

Our kids are 6.75, 4.5 + 2.75, respectively. We purposefully avoided building anything too high, added the “staircase” in the front, as opposed to a completely vertical ladder, and were sure to include a sturdy railing and walls around the entire thing. If you’ll also notice, we finished the bottom with fluffy pinestraw. That reason was two fold: Bertha the man eating pecan tree had destroyed that area of our yard, but we caught the offspring leaping from the top, just the other day. It makes for a soft landing. If you go back and look at our roof post, we also took extra precaution with the height of the roof. Boys will be boys, though, so we reinforced the roof in case any little monkeys decide to climb on top. All that being said, this little playhouse is perfect for our family. We’re not experts, and we’re just doing what’s right for us. So please take every little precaution you can when building a hideaway of your own. But know that our kids love it! And we hope yours do, if you decide to built it, too.

So there ya have it! We hope that answers some of your questions at the end of our hideaway series! Here’s to lots of memories, and fabulous s’mores!

Ever since I saw your first post on this I have been drooling all over them! I have also been begging my husband to make the boys something similar or a tree house. He is really concerned about spiders since we live in Oklahoma and they seem to be everywhere! Do you have problems with spiders? How do you discourage them?

Hey Danielle! I am concerned with wasps! We just intend to get out there on a regular basis with the brooms, but you can also spray, or even get those sound thingies that drive them away??? I would use an extension cord and just plug it in…the same way I use the lights… Just a few things I would try! ;} Probably not much help!

I love this! I couldn’t believe my luck when I found your site. My husband and I are had to cut down a large established poplar tree on our property when it was hit buy lightening, but we left the stump in place and have been planning to build a fort on top of it. Your design is perfect for our boys! One question: did you just rest the supports on the ground? The ground where we’re building is different levels, and with the season changes, I’m wondering if the posts might start to “sink” or shift? Thoughts?

Hey Shannon! I think all of this depends on your soil. Where our house is, we have very hard, rocky soil underneath, so we plan to put ours on garden rocks, to keep it from rotting underneath, and will keep an eye on it, but with our location, there really is not a lot of risk of sink-age. But if we ever changed our minds, we would simply dig and scoot. ;} It all depends on where you’re located, but we did not. ;} I hope that helps!

Hey Tanya! we had a lot of help with our fabulous teens {being a youth minister has its perks :)} but it also rained a lot. It was around 20+ hours worth of work, give or take a few based on paint drying time, etc. We spread it out, because of rain, and it took us around two weeks, but wasn’t unbearable because we did it one step at a time. ;} You can TOTALLY do this. I would recruit help because of the heavy lifting involved, just to make it easier, but you can TOTALLY do this. ;}

My brother took your plans and changed them up a bit. I made the curtains out of painter’s drop cloth. The detailing on the porch is hand done by my brother. He built the entire thing by himself and it took 3 weeks, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. I pinned it, but made sure to give you credit for your fabulous plans! My daughter absolutely LOVES her “beach shack!” Thank you so much!http://pinterest.com/pin/240450067575830534/

I love this idea, I am really wanting to build this for my daughter, she just turned 9, do you think she is to old for this? Is your older child still liking this fort? My daughter loves to “hide” anywhere she can so I thought his could be a great place to hide, and be outside… Any advise or suggestions?

Hey Jamie! Honestly, I don’t think you can ever be too big for a hideaway. I think it depends on how you style it, etc. but it can definitely keep growing with her! Think of all the ultra cool slumber parties she can have in her super secret girls club that no one else will? BOOYAH! ;} I say do it!!! I even love it…and I’m 32. These are the things memories are made of, for sure.

We loved your playhouse so we used some of the tips and ideas and put a little Florida twist on it. Our 2 year old loves it! Thank you! I would love to share some pictures, but not sure how to post them.

Hey Ben! The max height including the roof was around ten feet. If an angry mob of homeowners come after us with torches complaining that we’re spying into their back yard (awkward) we will simply lower our legs. ;} Hope this helps!

We love this playhouse and actually just bought the wood to start the deck this weekend. A question for you though….What slide did you purchase? Some of the ones i looked at online that look similar to yours had some bad reviews about them being flimsy. Just wondering how yours is holding up. Thank you again for the inspiration and sharing all the details….i’m so excited to build this for myself…uh, i mean for my kids 🙂

Ashley, I am currently trying to get this project approved by my HOA. I see that the total height is 10′. The HOA asked me how tall it is to the eaves. Can you let me know that please? Thanks so much!!

I am planning on starting this weekend. Excluding 6 inch deep mulch, which my wife insists on, I have it priced at about 1,000.00. I never used it before but home depot has a nice app and feature where you can easily build a list for projects and it price them out. I will post pics and will try to keep a listing of the budget. I am tweaking things a bit and building it higher, setting the 4×4 posts in the ground by 2 feet, and setting them in concrete to stabilize for a swing off of one side. Wish me luck!

We love this “clubhouse”, as our 5 year old son calls it, and my husband starting building it this weekend! As I am thinking about adding bean bags and pillows to the inside, I am wondering how easy it is to keep clean. I love the open look with the curtains, but wondering if you would recommend adding a door instead?

Hey Megan – I think it all depends on where you live. Ours is under a gargantuan tree, so there’s leaves and all kinds of things if we don’t clean it out, but on the flip side, a blower is quick and easy with the front open. It all depends on what you need! It’s definitely cooler because it’s open. I hope that helps!